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10 pounds down 32 pounds to go!

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

"you better look at my boobs when I'm talkin' about 'em"

My puppy is not tired. The old puppy, not the new puppy...I don't yet have any knowledge about her sleepiness but I can tell you with authority that the old puppy is NOT tired. Not quite like a toddler who is really tired and says their not tired even though they are...this puppy is genuinely awake. We went for a walk. And then a ride. And then another walk. AND then a hike. Usually a five mile hike tires him out but he's still perky and that would be why we're getting another puppy.

I've been trying to prepare myself for the new dog, in the way of buying her special small dog toys and reading every book by the dog whisperer. Matt and I decided long ago that we don't need the dog to heel all the time or learn to sit on a special mat so he doesn't touch the humans (a suggestion made by matt's brother) we just want him to respect our rules and live safely. He's not a bad dog and unless you look really hard you don't see how he pays no attention whatever if there's a road with interesting cars, or a person, or a dog. It's actually pretty easy to get his attention when he's sniffing out genuinely scary animals because he seems to have an interest in either being protected or protecting us but when it comes to a poodle on the other side of the road he's lost to this world. That is not ok so I have to get my shit together.

We got the dog when I was unemployed because I was unemployed and had plenty of time to work and be with him. Turns out I was incredible nervous and on edge that whole time what with the no money and it turns out the dog thinks I'm an unstable leader. Shocking! Apparently calling him a cuddle umpkins doesn't mask the fact that you're worried all the time about everything. So here I am practicing being a more relaxed in the moment Amy so my dog doesn't get hit by a car. From now on we're trying to only do things with him when he's calm submissive and that's when you start to realize you've been enabling behaviors since forever. We stood outside the petstore for almost ten minutes waiting for him to relax. It didn't actually work but we're going to keep at it. He still pulled me all over and you know, he doesn't have any money so it's important that I'm in a good mood or he doesn't get anything fun.

It's really, really hard. He's not a human, he's a dog. He only cares about taking walks, sniffing poop and making woofy friends. He's not worried about what I have to do when I get back to the house he just enjoys the hike...that's kind of a wonderful way to be.